


His Dontella

by justdreaming88



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Canon Compliant Angst, F/M, soulmate identifying marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24658918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justdreaming88/pseuds/justdreaming88
Summary: Could it be she was his Donnatella?Contains spoilers for all seasons of the West Wing.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	His Dontella

“I'm Donna Moss...I think you might find me valuable.” He nodded and she responded by picking up the ringing phone. He handed her his ID badge and she broke into the most beautiful, tender and hopeful smile he’d ever seen. 

Later he looked over her HR paperwork and it hit him like a ton of bricks. 

Full name: Donnatella Antonia Moss.

He subconsciously rubbed the soul mark on his chest. Could it be she was his Donnatella?

Josh being Josh panicked, broke up with Mandy and shouted down everyone’s objections to his beautiful blonde leggy assistant without a college degree whose smile made his heart shatter and reform every single time. 

She left. He got drunk and barely resisted the urge to follow her like a love sick fool.

Finally, she came back. 

“Thank god. There’s a pile of stuff on your desk,” he told her, immediately buying her story about slipping on ice; he carefully stowed her crutches at her desk then left her to work. 

Months later, as the bullet ripped into his chest and the pain suffused his body he couldn't help but think he never told her that her name matched that of his soul mark. After the second surgery he awoke and she was there and he couldn't speak, couldn't tell her the truth, and he hoped like hell that she hadn't seen it, because he couldn't bear to be the cause of the tears on her cheeks. 

He loved her, he was sure, but he couldn't. 

He bought her flowers on the anniversary of her return to him, like always, and confessed “If you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer.” She responded even better and left him speechless, saying: “if you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights.” When he regained his senses he wanted to run after her, ask if she loved him, ask if his name was likewise on her chest, but he didn't. He just went back to work. 

“Are you dating your assistant?” Amy asked. “I wish” was Josh’s mental response. Instead he dated Amy. He is useless at relationships and she never commented about his soul mark, and he recognised hers as the name of her college boyfriend. 

When Donna’s SUV exploded he flew straight to Germany. He brought her flowers, held her hand, wiped her tears, drove her to physical therapy, and ignored the fact that he was driving her away from him. 

He spends the next while ignoring her lunch requests, and soon enough they lose their playful banter until one morning she isn't at her desk and he could barely stop himself from having a panic attack in the middle of the office. 

The next few months are a blur. There are moments filled with her on TV ripping the chicken mascot to shreds, awkward hotel corridor encounters, and constantly crossing paths that show him every single day of what she's achieving without him.

Late one night as he began to fall asleep with his hand over his soul mark, tracing the letters on his chest, scar bisecting her name.

He doesn't hire her, he insults her, he pushes her away again and then in a moment of heartbreaking honesty: “I’ve got an airplane hanger out there filled with 500 strangers looking to me for direction. I’ve got a candidate who doesn’t trust any of them, and frankly neither do I. And if you think I don’t miss you every day...”

She walked away and he can't tell if he wants her to cry over him or if he'd be proud of her for being better than that.

In the end it's all out of his hands, Lou hires her, and Josh can't help but fall in love with her more and more every day. They kissed over the polling numbers and they flirt. Eventually Donna’s bravado and persistence win.

Finally, with her completely in his life in every respect, he is more relieved than he could ever explain that the name on her chest is his own. 


End file.
